The Baker's Window in Freiburg's Minster Church

In the Middle Ages, the bakers' guild donated some of the most impressive stained glass windows of Freiburg's Minster church. Red Baron showed the Brezel window in an earlier blog.

Last Saturday at the Studium Generale, Junior Professor Julia von Ditfurth presented the whole story behind the Baker's Window. Once again, the lecture hall was overcrowded.

Here is a black and white photo of the Baker's Window in 1917. The individual glass panes tell the hagiography of Saint Catherine of Alexandria.

Here is the Baker's Window as it appears to the visitor today. It is immediately apparent that the Brezel from 1917 has not only slipped down one row, but is also represented thrice.

Baker's Window showing the original panes (white)
and the panes created by Fritz Geiges around 1923.

How did that happen? In 1917, the Münsterbauverein (Cathedral Building Association) commissioned Fritz Geiges, Freiburg's renowned glass painter, to restore the cathedral's windows.

Original pane in the lower left: Before the king, Catherine refuses to worship idols..

Fritz did a thorough job. In restoring the Baker's Window, he removed five poorly preserved original panes and handed them over to the Augustiner Museum.

Catherine refuses to worship idols. Geiges's version of 1923.
People look up at the idol statue while Maxentius admonishes Catherine.

Fritz then replaced the missing panes with two copies of the Brezel and three of his "medieval" creations.

At the Day for Monument Preservation in 1925, Geiges's "restorations" were heavily criticized; some even spoke of "restoration vandalism." However, the Münsterbauverein had formulated the objective for the stained glass windows as "restoration to its original condition," allowing Geiges relatively free rein. In contrast, today's maxim is "Never restore, if possible only conserve."

Professor Ditfurth showed more original panes with Catherine's story. She was a Christian, and when the persecutions began under Emperor Maxentius, she went to him and rebuked him for his cruelty. 

Catherine debates the philosophes.

The Emperor summoned 50 of the best pagan philosophers and orators to debate with her, hoping that Catherine would renounce her Christian faith. However, discussing with them, she converted several to Christianity.

The burning of the philosophers

The converts were burned alive in an oven.

Maxentius gave orders to subject Catherine to terrible tortures and then throw her in prison.

Empress Fausta and Porphyry visit Catherine in prison.

During her imprisonment, more than 200 people visited her. All were converted to Christianity and subsequently martyred.

Catherine's wheel torture

According to the legend, Maxentius tried to win her over by proposing marriage. When Catherine refused, declaring that her spouse was Jesus Christ, he furious emperor condemned Catherine to be tortured on a wheel studded with sharp knives. But at her touch, it shattered.

 
Eventually, the emperor ordered her to be beheaded.

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